MANGALORE: Every year lakhs of tourists from across the country and abroad arrive at Panambur beach on holidays. The Dakshina Kannada district administration has taken several initiatives in association with the department of tourism to tap the tourist potential of the beach. However the dusty approach road that connects the National Highway to the beach is a disappointment.
Every day several heavy trucks carrying coal, urea, timber and other goods ply on the road which belongs to the New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT). As a result, the road becomes dusty and it becomes very difficult for tourists to walk to the beach.
Nagarika Hitharakshana Samiti, Surathkal, vice-president Pushparaj Shetty told TOI that trucks plying on it are spoiling the approach road. “Hundreds of tourists as well as others use the road. The trucks to the port are polluting the air and spoiling the road. There should be separate roads for trucks and other vehicles. When the number of tourists is on the rise, the possibilities of accident too are more. Goods, mainly coal and urea, fall on the road from trucks. The port authorities should take initiatives to provide a cleaner road,” he said.
Sathish Kumar, a tourist, said, that tourist taxi drivers refuse to go to Panambur beach because of the dirt on the approach road. “They say that they have to clean up their tyres after every time to go to the beach. You cannot walk on the stretch because of the dust,” he said.
